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'The Flash' Reportedly Casting Two Villains and a DC Superhero

By Russ Burlingame - July 13, 2017

The folks over at That Hashtag Show have uncovered three character breakdowns for The Flash's fourth season -- and they confirm one long-standing fan theory, plus offering two genuine surprises.

The casting breakdowns are asking for candidates to play The Mechanic (essentially a female version of The Tinkerer from Spider-Man: Homecoming), The Thinker (who we had all assumed would be the season four big bad)...

...and Ralph Dibny, the Elongated Man.

Yes, apparently we will get a new look at Ralph on TV before he ever shows up in comics again.

WOW.

Check out the breakdowns below.

Slide 1/4 – THE THINKER

As most eagle-eyed fans had suspected, The Flash will bring in Clifford DeVoe, the villain known as The Thinker, as the big bad of season 4.

You can see the description below.

CLIFFORD DEVOE/THE THINKER

Male, 40-50, Any Ethnicity. After being caught in the particle accelerator explosion, Clifford Devoe became an extremely intelligent meta-human. A super genius who’s plans to fix all he sees wrong with humanity.

Regular for Season 4.

They don't have any more details, and the report is tangential, as part of a fantasy-casting story, but they had a similarly-sourced casting story about Reign just days before the villain was officially announed for Supergirl season 3 yesterday.

Interestingly, the report does suggest that the foe will be squaring off with Barry Allen, suggesting that he's likely to return from the Speed Force prison sooner than later if their tip is right.

Earlier this season, producers revealed that The Flash's season 4 big bad won't be a speedster, but gave very little in the way of possibilities as to who it might be -- but the seasonfinale may have provided an important clue when Savitar mentioned a "cerebral inhibitor" that was going to play a big role in defeating a foe they hadn't met yet.

When Abra Kadabra was talking to The Flash about his most dangerous foes, he rattled off a number of familiar names, including Zoom and Eobard Thawne...and one less-familiar one (at least to the TV audience): "DeVoe."

Longtime comic book readers would recognize that name: Clifford DeVoe is a longtime Flash and Titans villain better known as The Thinker.

Created in 1943, The Thinker is one of The Flash's earliest villains. Originally a foe to Jay Garrick, DeVoe battled three generations of Flashes before his death in The Flash #134 in 1998. After his death, though, his brain patterns were used to create an AI that went on to become an antihero.

The Thinker was a tech-enhanced villain, utilizing a number of high-tech gadgets along with a group of cronies. The most significant of his toys was his "Thinking Cap," a metal hat that could project mental force. A replica of the Cap was key in bringing his virtual self back from the grave.

Over the years, he eventually joined the Suicide Squad -- something we're of course unlikely to see on TV right away. Both before that -- and then again after, when he fell off the "reformed supervillain" wagon and went fully bad again -- he was a member of the Injustice Society, often serving alongside The Shade, a character who has been seen on The Flash already.

When Damien Darhk, currently a major player on DC's Legends of Tomorrow, was first introduced at the end of Arrow's third season, it was in a similarly-subtle name-drop, followed by a more significant tease in the season finale, so keep your eyes open for the latter.

Here's one that's a bit interesting: DC has three characters all with this name, and none of them is female...or particularly memorable.

THE MECHANIC

Female, 30-40, Any Ethnicity. An extremely intelligent engineer who will design devices for Clifford Devoe. Basically, Devoe’s right hand. She’ll support Devoe no matter the consequences.

RECURRING GUEST

There was an Earth-2 Mechanic at one point, and then another one who appeared in Paul Cornell's Knight & Squire stories during the Batman Incorporated era.

Here, making her essentially The Tinkerer from Spider-Man: Homecoming offers a good deal of potential.

(Photo: DC Entertainment)

Slide 3/4 – ELONGATED MAN

A character name-dropped in season 1 of The Flash is finally actually going to appear onscreen, apparently.

[RALPH DIBNY/ELONGATED MAN]

Male, Mid to late 30s, Any Ethnicity. A Ryan Reynolds or Chris Pratt type. Ralph is able to drastically change the shape of his body, but is having a difficult time changing his ways. Will most likely be comedic relief for the season.

MAJOR RECURRING GUEST STAR, COULD COME BACK IN SEASON 5

As the Elongated Man, Ralph Dibny served on various iterations of the Justice League over the years, fighting alongside the likes of The Flash, Firestorm, Green Arrow, Black Canary...and later, the Justice League International, where he would meet up with Blue Beetle and Booster Gold.

At times, he's been known to live in Opal City, home to James Robinson's Starman and his supporting cast, including The Mist as well as the circus performers who served as antagonists in the first arc of The Flash Season Zero. He also lived in Central City and worked regularly with Barry at one point in the comics.

Ralph's wife died as part of the Identity Crisis story in the comics, murdered by the wife of Ray Palmer, currently appearing (but single) on Arrow.

In the comics, Ralph didn't have powers of his own, instead relying on a serum he developed to give them to him.

What's interesting is that while Ralph certainly had a sense of humor, the way he's described above sounds a lot more like Eel "Plastic Man" O'Brien than Dibny.

Slide 4/4 – MORE THE FLASH

Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) lived a normal life as a perpetually tardy C.S.I. in the Central City Police Department. Barry’s life changed forever when the S.T.A.R. Labs Particle Accelerator exploded, creating a dark-matter lightning storm that struck Barry, bestowing him with super-speed and making him the fastest man alive — The Flash.

But when Barry used his extraordinary abilities to travel back in time and save his mother’s life, he inadvertently created an alternate timeline known as Flashpoint; a phenomenon that gave birth to the villainous speed god known as Savitar, and changed the lives of Caitlin Snow (Danielle Panabaker) and Wally West (Keiyan Lonsdale) forever.

With the help of his adoptive father, Joe West (Jesse L. Martin), his lifelong best friend and love interest Iris West (Candice Patton), and his friends at S.T.A.R. Labs — Cisco Ramon (Carlos Valdes), C.S.I Julian Albert (Tom Felton), and an Earth-19 novelist named H.R. Wells (Tom Cavanaugh) — Barry continues to protect the people of Central City from the meta-humans that threaten it.